We start the month with a fun tradition from my childhood. Each year on December 1st our family got one of those super nasty chocolate advent calendars, and fought over who got to open each day. But after mom and dad set up a fair method (youngest to oldest some years, or roll the dice - each kid got a number), we would each guess what the chocolate would be shaped like. I don't know why this sticks out as one of my favorite Christmas traditions, but it was one I am very glad to carry on. However, I'm equally glad that we have upgraded our advent calendar and have a very beautiful one to use each year. It has a door for each day, so Alex gets to fill each day with something fun and different and exciting. This was our first year doing the advent calendar, and I was excited that Olivia was old enough to be excited about the candy, even though she didn't really understand what the calendar signified.
I'm pretty sure I've posted purse pictures before, but this purse (a birthday present from Grandma Terece), is a huge hit recently. She will find it each morning, sit and empty whatever I have put in it (for some reason she thinks purses should be empty), then carry it around like a real purse for a while, until she's distracted by some other toy. At first she couldn't put it on right by herself, so she would carry it over to Alex or me and stand with her arm outstretched just waiting for us to slide it onto her shoulder. She then walks around very carefully (see bottom picture) with her hand straight up in the air so the purse doesn't fall off. Some days she holds her ear for additional protection :).
The evening of December 1st Fresno (and most of the state of CA) had a huge windstorm. Entire trees blew over, and branches and debris littered our entire apartment complex for days before the cleanup crew was able to fix it all. Olivia really enjoyed playing in all the branches.
I'm a sucker for park pictures. I take way too many and find cute qualities in each one so I post a lot too. Here are a few from a trip to the park with dad. LOVE this holding hands picture...I can't say anything more about it.
And we surrendered the spoon! That's actually a lie, this was Olivia's first entire meal with her own spoon, and she wasn't very interested. She took one bite with the spoon, then ate the yogurt with her fingers...I guess we'll keep trying :) I'm ready for a completely independent eater!
On December 4th Olivia and I went to our first FSU basketball game! Alex works all of the womens events, so he was and he was able to get us second row on-the floor tickets, which worked well for Olivia because she loves to be involved. It also meant that their mascot was always walking around our seats. I couldn't help getting a picture with him, and O was completely enamored. She sat on his lap and just smiled up at him, never once looking at mom for help or assurance...I couldn't get a picture of her smile because she would only look at him, and every time he passed us after that she would point and laugh, trying to squirm her way out of my lap to go see him again. Her fondness of this mascot makes me sad that we have yet to get her a picture with Benny Beaver, but hopefully soon :)
IOlivia's high chair buckles onto a regular chair (or can sit on the ground, as we usually have it), so it doesn't have a footrest. I didn't notice this when I bought it, but recently have seen her swinging her legs, so I've wondered if having a footrest would be better. I was relieved to find out that she is creative enough to come up with her own temporary solution, the toe-stabilization device :).
I've gone through this post a few times looking for pictures I can cut out to make it shorter, but the truth is that this age of toddler-hood has meant a new adventure every day, and I don't want to forget any of them, or let any of the pictures get lost in the abyss of storage on the computer. So our next adventure happened just one day later, when Olivia rediscovered the toilet paper :) At least I won't lose her! Luckily we were able to talk about it and she helped me roll it back up. She's old enough to understand that she shouldn't do it...whether that actually makes her stop or not will be seen.
A new favorite food was discovered on the 6th. Whenever the fridge is open Olivia goes straight for the lemon juice and carries it around the whole house sucking on the lid. Alex decided that it would be good to let her try it (against my better judgment), and she ended up loving it! Our attempt at deterring her from taking it was a total fail, and now she tries to get the lid off - unsuccessfully so far - every time she grabs it.
P.S. please ignore the half pj's, half too-small sweats, and one sock with crazy hair.... :) sometimes that's just how we roll.
An early attempt at small-time burglary
On the ninth I was able to watch Ellie for a while, and the girls had a blast playing around the entire house. I had way too many pictures, so I made them into a collage, but on top we have some "sharing", then the bottom pictures show the girls playing catch with a glittery bouncy ball with a flashing light inside. They played for about half an hour, just chasing and throwing back and forth. The bottom left is actually Olivia dragging behind Ellie, who has the ball when it's O's turn. I maybe should have stopped it, but neither girl seemed to mind very much, so I took a picture instead :). Olivia loves having such a fun friend to play with!
Occasionally after bedtime Alex and I have a game night. Neither one of us is competitive at all *cough cough* so we have to alternate who picks the game. I'll admit I was surprised by Alex's choice, Disney Princess Monopoly! I found it at a garage sale in November, and brought it home saying this was the only monopoly he would ever get me to play (I hate games that last more than an hour). He proceeded to beat me mercilessly (4 games out of 5), so I'm glad that when Olivia gets a little older she will be able to enjoy this princess game with her daddy.
Park pictures...
Another helper moment, when Olivia was trying to tell me she wanted italian for dinner :). The closest I had was canned ravioli, but she seemed to enjoy it (lower pictures), so I guess she got her wish. I regularly come back from the bathroom or a quick trip to a different room to find messes like this. Part of me thinks that she goes around the house and scouts out possible mess-making opportunities, then waits for just the right moment to strike :). So far they have been relatively harmless, and I still enjoy the guilty face that she has when I catch her, so I guess it's all good!
The day after this (12/18) the Casqueiro clan drove down to spend a few days before Christmas, and our official vacation began. That post requires a lot of picture sorting and editing, so don't expect much very soon :)
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